One Last Time
by SpiritualSketcher
Summary: Set between The Green Death and The Time e Doctor feels lonely, and he ends up in a place he never thought he'd visit again. Please enjoy and comment :) SpiritualSketcher


**Set between _The Green Death_ and _The Time Warrior_.The Doctor feels lonely, and he ends up in a place he never thought he'd visit again. **

**Please enjoy and comment :) ~SpiritualSketcher**

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"Come on Jo, come on, you can make it!" Jo and the Doctor ran on, hand in hand, some known creature coming after them, their clothes were torn, their arms and faces bloodied. Their feet stumbled and tripped on the uneven ground, the roaring of the creature getting closer and closer when suddenly the Doctor's hand was empty. He turned, everything was getting darker, he couldn't see Jo. Panic rose within him, where was she? What happened? "Doctor!" Jo's ringed hand reached out, grabbing for him, "Doctor help me!" she screamed. But no matter how hard he tried, the Doctor couldn't see her, couldn't see her hand reaching out for him, desperate for help, for rescue, couldn't see the fear and sadness on her face. All he could see was growing darkness. All he could hear were her screams getting further and further away…

_**"JO!"**_ The Doctor sat bolt upright, beads of sweat dripping down his face and neck like an ice cold hand, both his hearts beating wildly. He looked around; he waited, waited for her to come into the room, waited for the "Doctor? What's wrong?" waited for the hand to run playfully through his hair, the gentle kiss to fall on his lips. But it never came. "Hm, she's probably gotten lost again," he smiled to himself, as he got up off the bed and went off in search. After a search of the whole TARDIS, she was nowhere to be found. "Where is that girl?" The Doctor mused as he walked around the console, tapping his chin in a thoughtful manner, "I could do with a cup of tea and some trivial Earth conversation."  
Then he remembered, and his hearts sunk to the bottom of his shoes as he sunk to the floor, knees drawing up to his chest and tears falling freely from his blue eyes. Jo was gone. She'd left her travels and times with him to marry a Professor named Clifford Jones. The Doctor sat on the floor by the console, allowing himself to cry. Jo had told him countless times that crying was a good thing because it wasn't good to keep all emotion pent up inside. He never believed her. Until now. "Why Jo?" he sobbed, "why did you leave me? To travel the whole of time and space alone. Why?" He stood up quickly, the TARDIS had landed he didn't remember setting it moving. "I must have done it before I went to sleep," he reasoned.

Composing himself, he stepped out the door and found himself in a wood, much like where he first landed when he was sentenced to exile. He went back into the TARDIS, "come on old girl, where and when am I? Tell me." 1979. "Alright, where?" Llanfairfach, Wales. The Doctor grabbed his cape, throwing it on as he raced out the doors, just remembering to lock them behind him. He ran through the woods, into the sleepy village, it was early morning and the sun was barely up but even so he ran on, up and down side streets, round the centre circle of small shops twice, getting lost. The next thing he knew, he was hitting the ground, hard. "Ow."  
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" he looked up as the person he'd bumped into turned round slowly, he scrambled to his feet. "Jo?" Jo stopped, hardly daring to turn round completely, to believe that the Doctor, her Doctor, was standing behind her. But he was. "Doctor!" she cried as he embraced her in a bone crushing hug that lifted her off her feet, "oh Doctor I've missed you, it's been six years!"  
"Six years? Is that all, it felt like thousands to me."  
Jo giggled and the sound make the Doctor's hearts soar, "six years is a long time to humans, Doctor."  
The Doctor grinned, "I've missed you Josephine Grant."  
"Um, it's Jones now," Jo said quietly, and the Doctor's hearts sank a little.

"Oh, yes, of course it is," he cleared his throat and held out his hand. Jo smiled and took it, squeezing tightly, they walked through the village, out towards the woods as Jo told him all about her life for the past six years. "You're a Mother now," the Doctor stated and Jo picked up on the sadness that drenched his voice, she merely nodded in reply.

The Doctor stopped walking and sat on the stump of a tree trunk, face in his hands. "Doctor?" Jo crouched beside him and put a consoling hand on his shoulder, "what's wrong?" The Doctor put a hand over hers, stroking her fingers gently, "remember when you asked me if I had any regrets about anything I had done while exiled?" Jo thought back, remembering vividly the conversation they had the day the Brigadier accused the Doctor of being a reckless, rebellious intergalactic gadabout, "yes."  
"Well, I lied. I do."  
"Oh? Jo grew curious now, "and those are?" She was caught off guard when she was pulled onto the Doctor's lap and he kissed her, the way they'd been dared to under the mistletoe one Christmas at UNIT, the dare that had made them fall in love. Love that was there but never fully acknowledged. "I regret never telling you I love you Jo," came the quiet whisper in her hear that sent warm shivers down her spine, she revelled in feeling that warmth again, the warmth that made her feel safe and wanted. "I regret not telling you how I felt before we came here all those years ago. I regret letting you wonder if I cared."

"I always knew you cared Doctor," she said, running her hands through his hair like she used to, "everybody knew. Even Brigadier had suspicions!" The Doctor laughed and picked Jo up, carrying her through the woods, "close your eyes." Jo did as he said, curiosity flowing through her like it used to all that time ago. "Open."  
Jo's mouth fell open in amazement, "the TARDIS!" she walked slowly round the console, taking everything in, she turned to the Doctor, excitement flooding her eyes, "could we?"

The Doctor grinned and laced his fingers with hers as he set the TARDIS moving, "why not? One last time."


End file.
